"Family Dog" shows tend to be a bit more laid back as a general rule, but this particular night sounds like a bit of an anomaly, as many numbers exhibit a slightly higher level of octane at this venue. The somewhat rare "Seasons" is executed well enough (if you can dig that kind of thing), and the "Mama Tried" is a solid reading. But these little ditties are just warm-ups, of course. The Good Lovin'->Drums->Good Lovin' is superlative, and the best of the year, imho. Things would only get better with that number, though (READ: 5/2/70). The Dark Star->Feelin'Groovy Jam->Tightin' Up Jam->Dark Star->St. Stephen->The Eleven->Death Don't is the obvious highlight of the evening. I could hardly write anything worthy of properly singing its praises, but I will offer that that segue of musical merit rivals anything the boys were doing back in February, March, & April of the year. This show holds its own indeed, and it's really a shining star in a period that's otherwise somewhat overlooked by the fantastic stretch they had earlier in the year, and by the year they were soon to embark upon. I recommend this show without reservation.

BTW, the last line of “St. Stephen” that reads: “William Tell has stretched his bow till it won't stretch no furthermore and it may require a change that hasn't come
before” is brilliant in that Jerry charges full speed ahead with his vocal, accentuating the “Before” by sustaining it in long and robust way that I’ve never heard on another other version. He then kicks right into “The Eleven”. I agree with reviewer mikemet that that moment is one for the ages, worthy of repeated listens.

Incredible show, incredible recording.

Thank you Charlie

Since it seems to be flying a bit off the radar of most commenters, I'll mention that I really like this The Eleven -- it might not totally grab you initially because it doesn't have quite the raw energy of some other versions, but give it a couple of listens-- it gets a wonderful float going and manages to float into Death Don't Have No Mercy, which is a totally absorbing version that will stick to your brain like glue.

@Hung, Wae-Lo -- I actually think it was Franklin's Tower that was inspired by Take A Walk on the Wild Side.

I've read in several places, including Blair's biography, that Garcia said he'd 'purloined' the Eyes riff from the Colored Girls section of Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side, which came out in 1972.

just wow wow wow. pure 5 #1 4 me thanks.
best of all ever,
sound Quality is the BEST i ever heard
best dark star even @ 30min !!!
best 11
best DDHNMercy ever
the BEST ever BASS clarity

Evan is spot on. It starts out as the "Feelin' Groovy" then quiets for a few moments and Garcia takes it to "Beginnings." A gem.

Mr. Charlie Miller himself has asked us to kindly listen to the whole show, and for good reason - the band has a great handle on their evolving sound for this era that eventually gave way to the full-blown acoustic sets. Everything pre-Dark Star is interesting to listen to, just to hear them oh-so-slightly scaled back. Shame that Dancin' has that massive slice cut out of it, probably won't ever be complete. The rest of the set is really fun - after Billy kicks through his bass drum head the band starts Big Boss Man sans drums - all of the Pigpen numbers on this set are a lot of fun.

The heavy juice suite to follow is just simply a classic, timeless achievement by the Dead. Everything is absolutely....perfect! Listen to Jerry giving his vocal everything to this show, in the transition between St. Stephen and the Eleven and in many other points throughout.

Ok, so after some sleuthing I've determined what I feel is right about Dark Star (feel free to disagree). After it comes out of that devily, wicked space I hear the Feelin Groovy jam form, the four decending chords, though different from what it would be later, 73-74. Then, what people are refering to as an early incarnation of Eyes is actually the Tighten up jam, listen to tighten up, by archie bell, then listen to this jam. Starting at about 23:35 they come out of the early feelin groovy, then drop into what sounds very much like Eyes, definitely. But then pause it for a second and throw on that tighten up by archie, and it's the same. Maybe this is where Eyes was birthed from, maybe not, but this is definitely the tighten up jam. Then that jam breaks away, and jerry and the drummers start to bring dark star back.
It's a good one, to be sure, filled with all kinds of beauty and fire. This is a great show. I always feel blessed to have these recordings from 40+ years ago, and with such great sound. Charlie Miller kicks ass. 1969?!? Whoa.

This shows sound quality is about as good as it gets for a 69 show, also the performance is in top form. The dark star is one of my favorites and includes what I like to call a UFO landing and blast off.

I think Dark Star shouldve been included to Anthem, or even better it could have been included in Aoxomoxoa along with the eleven. The studio versions of the eleven and darkstar arent as good or even close to as long as most of the live versions but I still think they are awesome.

Music IS highly subjective, and so are those lists. According to DeadLists (http://www.deadlists.com/default.asp -> help and resources -> dark star document) 4/24/72 is considered to be a top-five all-time version. But that doesn't mean Deadlists is the definitive ranking anymore than those other resources are. For me personally, I'd place it in at least the top 10-20, but I wasn't trying to imply that it was a top three version. I was merely using it as an example of what versions are considered the best. Hope that clarifies things a bit.

I know music is highly subjective, yet I have not heard, seen, or stumbled upon (until now) ANYONE who has suggested 4/24/72 Dark Star as being an "all time best version"...maybe it's just one of your FAVORITES. There is a difference. According to DeadBase and The Taping Compendium (Dwork/Getz), which is based on hundreds of surveys etc, the top 3 "all-time" best versions of Dark Star include 8/27/72, 2/13/70, and 2/27/69 (Live Dead version). so yeah, I agree about 2/13/70. But how you threw 4/24/72 in there as the first date you listed as "best version ever"...I will never understand. Just saying...

Man, listen to them go back into the Dark Star theme around 7:00... so quiet and moody, I love it!

I have to agree with Steve1971, this is the best DDHNM I've heard this side of 4/6/69. And the Big Boss Man is no slouch either.

Could it be said that '69 was the last year that Pig was THE lead vocalist (as opposed to A lead vocalist) of the band? Almost 1/3 (four) of the 13 songs listed feature Pigpen on lead vocals. And three in a row! I can't remember that occurring after 1969.
The question is, is this the complete show?

I'll weigh in. The mystery jam in the middle of Dark Star sounds to me like the riff of "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell and the Drells. They've dropped this riff into other jams. You'll hear it on "Dancin' in the Streets" on the Harpur College Dick's Picks.

Fellahs, I'll admit that it does sound a bit like Beginning, but its more likely a GD take on Archie Bell and The Drells "I Can't Stop Dancing" released in 1968. We know the boys loved that Motown stuff (Second That Emotion) so it makes more sense that they would take a cover and drop it in rather than CTA stealing an obscure riff out of a jam and turning it into a song. It's not identical, but it's the same melody and you know how they like to have fun with the words. You hear it again in the Dancing in the Streets from Harpurs College. Regardless, its a killer Star.

Yes, you can definitely hear a bit of 'Only the Beginning' in the middle of Dark Star. But there's also another 3-chord riff that takes over prior to that. I can't quite put my finger on it, and it could easily fit into any number of 3-chord rock songs that came along over the course of the next 20 years (for a minute I thought of Sweet Jane, but it was only a fleeting thing).

They played a lot with Chicago Transit Authority during that era (check out the posters on deadlists), so it's impossible to know who was 'sincerely flattering' whom, but to the poster on another of the sources of this show who gleefully noted that Chicago didn't come out with their song until 1970, remember that many bands -- including The Dead -- played songs on tour long before they recorded them in the studio. My personal opinion is that Jerry & the boys could have gotten away with riffing on something they heard from Chicago in a live show much more easily than Chicago could have claimed publishing rights to something that they heard the dead do in a jam. Remember that The Dead were a signed band, so the record company would have gone after Chicago's record company (Columbia, if I recall correctly from my vinyl) for royalties for anything that ended up being as big a hit as Only the Beginning was.

Also fun to note that just after that aural reference we hear the early footprint of Eyes of the World...only the beginning, indeed!

Easily, the most variegated and immense Dark Star, for me, at this writing.

Towards the end of Dark Star they whittle themselves into a chorus of the hit record of the day "Only The Beginning" by Chicago. There's no vocals but you can't help but add them yourself. Listen carefully for the "Eyes" tease when it transitions out of the Chicago tune into St Stephen. The Eleven is sloppy yet spirited (because they had completely sacrificed themselves for the Dark Star), but, then, after a breather

Jerry lends his entire body and soul to Death Don't with a heart-wrenching blues solo which is Raw Control.

Dick's favorite Dark Star,
A must-have show for '69 from the good Dr.
In Cliff's top 4 or 5 Dark Stars EVER!!!

Do you need any more endorsements for this show?

Okay, how about, Dark Star-> St. Stephen -> The Eleven -> Death Don't Have No Mercy from the Master Reel.
Miller upgrade = redundant statement.

Peace.

I'm a Death affectionato and was pleased to find this one seemingly recently added. The entire Star-StStephen-Eleven lead-in is fresh and solid for late 69 material. Great, rather muscular Dark Star, must be 25 minutes long or more. The Death too is a keeper, with an unusually slow cadence to the guitar solo, coming off the eleven jam. My favorite is still the March, 70 version from the Capital, but this one is sweet too. Too bad they dropped Death as all the new songs started pouring in in early 70. It is one of Jerry's most powerful covers.